[OANNES Foro] Ocean data need a sea change to help navigate the warming world

[Mario Cabrejos]

Nature 582, 181-183 (2020)
08 June 2020 
doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-01668-z

Open up, share and network information so that marine stewardship can
mitigate climate change, overfishing and pollution. 
Ocean data need a sea change to help navigate the warming world
Annie Brett,  <javascript:;> Jim Leape,  <javascript:;> Mark Abbott,
<javascript:;> Hide Sakaguchi,  <javascript:;> Ling Cao,  <javascript:;>
Kevin Chand,  <javascript:;> Yimnang Golbuu,  <javascript:;> Tara Martin,
<javascript:;> Juan Mayorga &  <javascript:;> Mari S. Myksvoll
<javascript:;> 
The ocean covers about 70% of Earth's surface, regulates the climate and is
home to countless species of fish, a major source of protein for more than
one billion people. It is now under threat from climate change, overfishing
and pollution.
To respond to these threats, those who use, safeguard and study our seas
need real-time information. Too often, ocean management has been undermined
by the lack of data on human activity and on the waters themselves. Pirate
fishers have plundered the high seas with impunity, knowing they cannot be
traced. Crew members on legitimate fishing boats have been tortured and even
murdered, out of sight. Stocks have been overfished because most quotas are
set only annually, using last year's data. Illegal fishing has proliferated,
devastating ecosystems and undermining global food supplies.
Happily, new technology platforms collected more data on the oceans in 2018
than was gathered during the entire twentieth century1
<https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01668-z?utm_source=Nature+Briefi
ng&utm_campaign=25b84ce340-briefing-dy-20200608&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_
c9dfd39373-25b84ce340-45511414> . Data from satellites, autonomous
underwater vehicles and other platforms have come together with emerging
data streams from social media, smartphones and low-cost distributed
sensors. This enables a new understanding of the impact of human activity on
the ocean (see 'Data tsunami').
For instance, fishing vessels worldwide can now be tracked in near-real time
using the website Global Fishing Watch <https://globalfishingwatch.org> .
This partnership between Google, the international ocean-conservation
organization Oceana and SkyTruth, an environmental watchdog in
Shepherdstown, West Virginia, uses satellite data to monitor planetary
threats. The partnership combines GPS location data from fishing vessels
with machine-learning analytics.
Since 2016, it has provided information on activities such as the transfer
of fish between intermediate carrier vessels - a technique often used to
disguise smuggling. It has also helped to catch boats that illegally dip in
and out of marine protected areas. This service is possible because of
advances in communication, such as 5G technology for mobile-phone networks,
as well as improved capabilities in artificial intelligence and machine
learning.
 
Source: World Ocean Database
This and other tools combine data from increasingly robust observation
networks worldwide. More than 6,000 floating sensors, satellites and other
remote-sensing technologies generate a real-time understanding of ecosystems
and the risks they face (see go.nature.com/3c8jcsc
<http://go.nature.com/3c8jcsc> ).
Connecting disparate data sets can vastly boost our knowledge. For example,
finding and combining existing maps of the ocean floor more than doubled the
proportion that has been mapped globally - from about 6% in 2014 to 15% in
2019 - without any new surveys (see go.nature.com/3gthqno
<http://go.nature.com/3gthqno> ).
A major stumbling block to universal data synthesis is ownership. Petabytes
of ocean data are under the control of government agencies, researchers and
private companies, such as those in oil and shipping2
<https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01668-z?utm_source=Nature+Briefi
ng&utm_campaign=25b84ce340-briefing-dy-20200608&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_
c9dfd39373-25b84ce340-45511414> . This information must be made available -
fast - to enable sustainable management of marine resources.
Here we call for two things. First: federated data networks to connect
disparate ocean databases. Second: new incentives and business models for
data sharing. These can create an open, actionable and equitable digital
ecosystem for the sustainable future ocean. The upcoming United Nations
Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-30) must end data
segregation and usher in a new era of automated access for all.
Four problems
The swelling of ocean information in the past decade has not been
accompanied by a rethinking of how data are collected, shared and accessed.
Historical data-management methods have created a highly fragmented
landscape that is resistant to integration. There are four big problems.
Silos. Government agencies, companies, researchers and resource users keep
vast stores of data that are collected and managed for their own specific
purposes. These troves are inaccessible and invisible to others. For
example, the US Navy holds extensive oceanographic data from areas that are
rarely reached by research vessels. Private fishing and shipping vessels
have reams of information on oceanographic conditions that remains locked
away. Silos have serious consequences: illegal fishers, for example, can
land their catches unimpeded, knowing that nations don't normally share
information on vessel identity or routes. Scientists have few incentives to
expend the effort necessary to make their data sets available.
Control. Even when individual data holders realize that their assets might
be useful to others, they are often reluctant to share them with centralized
repositories, because they want to control how the information is accessed
and used. The private sector keeps its data close, fearing competition or
public scrutiny. For instance, aquaculture farms record detailed information
on local ocean conditions. They do not share it because of concerns over a
backlash from environmentalists about the effects of their operations on
nutrient levels and other conditions. Meanwhile, vast amounts of scientific
data collected by defence departments worldwide remain classified.
Format and quality. Data are often not interoperable. Inconsistent reporting
practices, a lack of funding, concerns over sharing and a lack of
attribution in publications have had two effects. First, these problems have
hampered community efforts to create universal standards. Second, they have
prevented the uptake of portals such as the Ocean Data Standards and Best
Practices Project <http://www.oceandatastandards.org/>  or the World Ocean
Database <http://wod.iode.org>  (http://wod.iode.org).
Fragmentation. Attempts to bring data together often drive fragmentation -
of data sets, communities and data norms. Centralized catalogues do increase
the visibility of data sets, as happened with the Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission's Ocean Data and Information System
<http://odis.iode.org> . They do not always solve the problem of access. And
the proliferation of these lists makes matters worse. There are more than 70
overlapping catalogues for polar ocean data alone1
<https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01668-z?utm_source=Nature+Briefi
ng&utm_campaign=25b84ce340-briefing-dy-20200608&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_
c9dfd39373-25b84ce340-45511414> . Time after time, such bespoke solutions
have evolved to meet only the temporary needs of managers and scientists.
Scaling up conventional approaches won't work.
Three fixes
Ocean data are dispersed. So are the teams of experts that must make sense
of them. These 'many-to-many' networks will evolve as collaborations change.
Therefore, new data architectures must enable flexible access, usage,
analysis and cooperation. Here, we outline three key ingredients.
Federated networks. A fast track to interoperability is networking of
existing data sets. Global tagging standards and metadata protocols specify
when and how data can be stored, transmitted and used, and by whom. They
also describe the suitability of the data for management and enforcement
decisions. These standards support the connection of disparate repositories
through trusted data brokers and they streamline access; data-holders retain
control. Data that meet criteria specified in the tags can be made available
automatically to users. This provides efficient and timely access for a
broad array of managers and users.
Federated networks are used in other fields, such as health, to help
overcome confidentiality concerns. In these networks, the information itself
is not shared - instead, queries are submitted to gather the needed
information while protecting patient privacy.
If users are willing to relinquish some control over storage, data lakes of
information held in a raw format can be nodes in larger federated networks.
Data lakes move unstructured data onto cloud architecture. This improves
access and lowers the costs of analysis. Data lakes can also enable the
development of services. For instance, when the US National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published data from its Next Generation
Weather Radar in the cloud, the information was used to analyse and track
bird migrations3
<https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01668-z?utm_source=Nature+Briefi
ng&utm_campaign=25b84ce340-briefing-dy-20200608&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_
c9dfd39373-25b84ce340-45511414> .
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) should
lead an effort to develop standards for tagging and metadata. The
organization should require that all data collected use these protocols and
are made publicly available.
Open data. Sharing must be established as a new default unless there are
compelling security, proprietary or privacy constraints. New standards could
allow industry and military data holders to define data tags that make
robust, long-term data sets automatically available after any embargoes have
expired.
Governments must lead the way by aggressively declassifying and sharing data
that are relevant to ocean science and management. The technical obstacles
can now be overcome, as we have set out here. Companies and researchers can
be incentivized to share data by making it a condition for access to public
resources, such as funds for ocean research, permits for coastal development
or licences for oil exploration or fishing.
Companies that sell or process fish and seafood are already moving to
introduce greater transparency into their supply chains. For instance, 65
major retailers, processors, marketers, traders and harvesters signed the
Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration in 2018, committing to full traceability
of all tuna products by the end of 2020 (see go.nature.com/3c4wrpv
<http://go.nature.com/3c4wrpv> ). They are responding to growing consumer
demand for better information on the goods they sell and their provenance,
legality and social and environmental sustainability. Recognition is growing
that better visibility across supply chains allows companies to understand
and manage risks. They must build on these efforts.
Researchers must commit to collecting data using standardized protocols and
metadata. They can build on the existing standards of the ocean-science
community, including the US Integrated Ocean Observing System and Ocean Best
Practices system (see go.nature.com/3ebwjtc <http://go.nature.com/3ebwjtc>
). Work is needed to integrate these standards and incentivize their
adoption.
And what of credit? Assigning DOIs (digital object identifiers) to data sets
can ensure that scientists are recognized for contributing to them. Networks
that allow researchers to publish their data in one place with global access
will remove many of the other logistical barriers to sharing. Embargo
windows give researchers time to publish scientific findings before the data
are made available to all. For example, the UK Natural Environment Research
Council requires those it funds to publish all data within two years of the
end of data collection.
Business models. The provision of ocean data is an important public good,
supporting sustainable management globally. However, the costs associated
with standardizing and disseminating data are high: about 10-20% of the
budget of oceanographic research projects. Most existing research databases
rely on public funding. There is an urgent need for new revenue models that
can make data more broadly available. This requires innovation in business
models.
As private data sources proliferate, investors, philanthropic organizations
and governments should invest in approaches that combine commercial
viability with support for data management. For example, private satellite
and drone providers already sell data to governments and large companies.
They can make these data available in delayed or slightly degraded form to
coastal communities and developing countries that can't afford to pay for
them.
Businesses should also find ways to incentivize better data collection
throughout their supply chains. Thai Union, a major seafood company in
Samutsakorn, Thailand, for instance, is piloting the use of a blockchain
ledger with a technology company called Fishcoin to reward small-scale
fishers in mobile-phone minutes for collecting and sharing data. Of course,
such data must be shared in a useful and actionable format, consistent with
the standards used by scientists and governments.
Governments should continue to provide free access to raw oceanographic data
for all users. Insurance companies, weather forecasters for precision
agriculture, and others use raw ocean and climate data to develop lucrative
knowledge products.
Payments for these analytical services create opportunities to support
research databases in the long term4
<https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01668-z?utm_source=Nature+Briefi
ng&utm_campaign=25b84ce340-briefing-dy-20200608&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_
c9dfd39373-25b84ce340-45511414> . NOAA's Big Data Program provides a model.
NOAA has partnered with Amazon and other technology firms to put data sets
in the cloud so they are freely available to the public. Amazon gains
insights into future knowledge-based services by analysing data-usage
patterns. In return, NOAA has seen access to some data more than double,
increasing their utility at no cost to the government.
However, it is risky to rely on public-private partnerships to reduce the
costs of network infrastructure. Companies such as Amazon could decide that
hosting ocean data is no longer economically viable, or a firm might
disappear from the market. Moreover, such partnerships can be significantly
influenced by financial and political pressures beyond the scientific and
stewardship needs of the data. Public entities can protect against these
eventualities by partnering with a variety of companies, and by ensuring
that data remain backed up on publicly funded servers.
Global coordination and commitment is needed. The UN Decade of Ocean Science
for Sustainable Development is an opportunity to revolutionize how ocean
data are collected, stored and used.



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